Solar Cypress, Solar Chicago | Green Energy News

May 5, 2002 – Vol.7 No.6

SOLAR CYPRUS, SOLAR CHICAGO.

Today, the sunny Mediterranean isle is totally dependent on imported fossil fuels for its electrical power. Yet 90 percent of the homes and 50 percent of the hotels use the sun to heat water for domestic needs. The island seems the perfect place to launch a new solar photovoltaic (PV) company.

In a $2.7 million contract with Spire Corporation, new Cyprus company ATmicro Solar has purchased a SPI-LINE turnkey PV module production line. The production line will allow ATmicro to assemble PV modules at a rate of 10 megawatts per year. The completed modules will be sold to customers on the island and throughout the eastern Mediterranean. For now, solar cells for ATMicro modules will need to be imported.

In not-as-sunny Chicago, Spire Solar Chicago (SSC) has moved into new space that will allow them to expand operations. As the anchor tenant, the company has leased 14,000 square feet at the new Chicago Center for Green Technology (CCGT). In its new digs in the CCGT Spire Solar will have administrative offices and module manufacturing. Eventually the company estimates that 55 people will be employed at the new facility.

SSC provided 35 kilowatts of roof mounted and awning solar panels to the CCGT that is also expected to win a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) award through the U.S. Green Building Council, the first in the windy city.

SSC has also recently installed 35 kilowatts of solar power for Chicago’s 911 Emergency Communications Center. Visit Spire Corporation at http:// www.spirecorp.com/ , the U.S. Green Building Council at http://www.usgbc.org/ .